What is an Osprey?

Updated 7:34 AM ET, Fri May 22, 2015

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Air Force CV-22 Ospreys take off from Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, for a training mission. The Osprey is a tilt-rotor aircraft that combines the vertical takeoff, hover and landing qualities of a helicopter with the normal flight characteristics of a turboprop aircraft. Click through to see Ospreys in action.

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A CV-22 Osprey, flown by the Air Force's 8th Special Operations Squadron, hangs in an anechoic chamber at the Joint Preflight Integration of Munitions and Electronic Systems hangar at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, in 2012.

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An MV-22 Osprey from Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 262 soars over the Pacific Ocean during a flight from the Philippines to Australia in 2014. Marines and aircraft from VMM-262, VMM-265 and Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 152 flew approximately 4,700 miles from Okinawa, Japan, to Brisbane, Australia, to provide aerial support for President Barack Obama and Marine Helicopter Squadron One during the G20 Summit. When paired with the KC-130J tanker, the Osprey can provide assault support anywhere in the 105 million square miles that make up the Marine Forces Pacific area of responsibility.

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A CV-22B Osprey receives fuel from an MC-130H Combat Talon II on June 21, 2013, off the coast of Greenland.

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Sailors assigned to the aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73) and Marines assigned to the 3d Marine Expeditionary Brigade load boxes of supplies into a U.S. Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey from Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM) 262 to be airlifted to nearby villages during relief efforts after Supertyphoon Haiyan.

A Marine MV-22 Osprey makes contact with a KC-10 Extender tanker's drogue from Travis Air Force Base off the coast of San Francisco at 10,000 feet in October 2014.

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An MV-22B Osprey, assigned to Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 365 (Reinforced), 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, hovers over the flight deck of the amphibious transport dock USS New York, at sea, in January 2015.

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U.S. Marines with Special-Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force Crisis Response-Africa board an MV-22 Osprey during an alert force drill at Moron Air Base, Spain, on March 13, 2015. The alert force tested its capabilities by simulating a reaction to a real-time crisis response mission by flying to Sigonella, Italy, on a moment's notice.

Combat controllers from the 21st Special Tactics Squadron fast-rope from a CV-22 Osprey during Emerald Warrior near Hurlburt Field, Florida, on April 21, 2015. Emerald Warrior is the Department of Defense's only irregular warfare exercise, allowing joint and combined partners to train together and prepare for real-world contingency operations.